Carbohydrates: Brief Overview

Just like a car cant run without gas our body cant perform without some kind of fuel. Our body uses calories which it gets from different kinds of foods to give us the energy we require to perform various activities. The preferred source of fuel our body uses comes from the macronutrient Carbohydrates.

Many people have the misconception that carbs are bad because they make you fat. The truth is Carbs are one of the most important, if not, THE most important of macro nutrients our body requires. Carbs are our body's preferred source of fuel for energy. Although It is true that our body uses Carbs for energy, if consumed irresponsibly our body has the tendency to convert the extra glucose it gets from Carbs into fat.

When consumed our body breaks down Carbohydrates into sugar called Glucose. Glucose is used by the Liver and our muscles and converted into something call Glycogen. Glycogen can be thought of as “muscle energy”. Just like electronic devices need battery’s to run, our muscles need energy to perform, which comes from Glycogen. However when an individual consumes more carbs then their body requires the glucose can also be used by our body and converted into fat.

Not all Carbs are the same. Carbs can be divided into 2 main groups: Simple Carbs and Complex Carbs. Both types of Carbs should be present in your diet but knowing when to consume each is essential.

Simple Carbs:

Simple Carbs come from foods such as candy, chocolate, pop, fruits and many other sources.  Simple Carbs can be compared to an ice cube. If you were to hit an ice cube with a hammer it would instantly break down into smaller pieces. Simple carbs are similar; our body breaks them down very quickly and converts them to glucose right away.

Complex Carbs:

Complex Carbs come from foods such as Sweet Potatoes, Pasta, Brown rice, and most brown breads. Instead of ice cubes complex Carbs resemble yarn. TO break down the yarn you would have to take it apart thread by thread instead of breaking it down instantly like an ice cube. Essentially, complex carbs take longer to convert into glucose and break down at a much slower rate compared to simple carbs.

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone produced by our body that carries nutrients to different parts of our body. When Carbs are consumed they get broken down into sugar which raises our blood sugar levels. When our blood sugar increases our body releases Insulin to lower the blood sugar back down to normal. Since simple Carbs break down quicker, a higher amount of insulin is released at once to combat the increase in our blood sugar level and bring it back to normal. Since complex Carbs take longer to break down our body releases smaller amounts of insulin to bring down our blood sugar level. This concept is essential to understand. CARBOHYDRATES SPIKE INSULIN.

Think of those kids that deliver newspapers to every house in a neighbourhood. They go house by house and deliver the newspaper to each one on the street. Insulin works the same way, but instead of delivering news paper it delivers nutrients such as glucose, oxygen and other minerals, and instead of houses it delivers it to our muscles. It is important to note that since insulin carries nutrients, when it is in our blood our body no longer needs to use fat for energy since it can get everything it needs from insulin. SO when insulin levels are high in your blood your body stores fat instead of using it as fuel. This is where the myth of “carbs makes you fat” started. Carbs spike insulin, and when insulin levels are high the body stores fat instead of using it as energy.

This blog was intended to give you a brief overview of Carbohydrates. I will get more into detail on how to best utilize carbs depending on your fitness goals in future blogs. Hopefully this helped give you an idea of what happens to Carbs once consumed and how our body handles them. If you need any clarification feel free to contact me.

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